EVENTS

Are Evangelicals Dangerous? A Response

Evangelicals can’t be a threat to science,
But merely to evolution
And they’re only a danger to secular views
Like the ones in the Constitution
Their values are different; I’ll give you that,
Like a focus on unborn life
And a view that the state has a right to define
Who may marry (a man and his wife)
They know the importance of spreading The Word
Which is why they want prayer kept in schools
Without it, the hallways are godless and ill
With just atheist, secular rules.

Are we dangerous? No, we’re as gentle as lambs!
All we want is the bible’s authority
It’s the least we can ask, though it’s always denied
We’re a picked-on and bullied majority

rant, after the jump:

Over on CNN’s Belief Blog, the question is asked: Are evangelicals dangerous? Who better to answer a question like that than an evangelical? I’m sure there was an Aesop’s fable that touches on situations like this. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, enlightens us.

Well, eventually, he does, but first he takes a while painting his people as the victims. People say such cruel things about them every 4 years or so. Are they really so dangerous that people call for them to be imprisoned call them “bugnut Christians”?

Are evangelicals dangerous? Well, certainly not in the sense that more secular voices warn. The vast majority of evangelicals are not attempting to create a theocracy, or to oppose democracy.

Are they dangerous? Not compared to my strawman, no.

As Christians committed to the Bible, evangelicals have learned to advocate on behalf of the unborn, believing that every single human being, at every stage of development, is made in God’s image.

Evangelicals worry about the fate of marriage and the family, believing that the pattern for human relatedness set out in Scripture will lead to the greatest human flourishing.

If you think that women deserve control over their own bodies, or that gays should have the same rights as straights, then yes, evangelicals are dangerous.

Above all, evangelicals are those who believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and are most concerned about telling others about Jesus. Most of America’s evangelical Christians are busy raising their children, working to support their families and investing energy in their local churches.

But over recent decades, evangelical Christians have learned that the gospel has implications for every dimension of life, including our political responsibility.

We’re dangerous only to those who want more secular voices to have a virtual monopoly in public life.

Like, say, the framers of the constitution. That sort of secular voices.

Over on CNN’s Belief Blog, the question is asked: Are evangelicals dangerous?

Well sure. I know how they feel about me and people like me. They want to kill me. They tell me so often. I’ve been getting death threats for over a decade like a lot of scientists.

Many or most fundies openly hate the US and want to overthrow the US government and set up a theocracy. They say that often too.

They won’t win their culture war which is just a return to the Dark Ages. But they don’t have to.

The fundies have discovered the weak point of the USA. Our world’s largest economy. Bush wrecked the economy so completely that the Federal Reserve is projected a recovery by 2018. One more Tea Party moron president and you can add another decade. Recovery by 2028. Maybe, that is so far out that you could just as easily say never.

Are the fundie xians dangerous? If you want to live in a declining empire with a steadily falling standard of living and endless wars, sure. The median income of US families has fallen for 4 years straight by 10%, the biggest drop in my Boomer lifetime.

We could just change our name to New North American Somalia and be done with it.

I’ve learned that having a balance in life is sometimes a good thing, especially if you’re suffering from a lot of negativity; it’s good to have some positive to balance that out.

That said… Raven?

… I’m sending you a LIFE THREAT. Yes, that’s right. I’m going to attempt to NOT KILL YOU, you magnificent individual. I declare that in no way whatsoever am I ever going to harm you, insult you, make fun of you, or inflict any form of harm on your body or ideology in such a way that said entities cease to exist. I demand that you continue your good work without pause, otherwise further pleading shall ensue.